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Divorce

November 1999

She hadn't seen Draco since he got out. She had spent the two nights before his release with Narcissa but now occupied her room at Grimmauld Place. The older witch was taken care of and there was really no longer a reason for Hermione to be at the Manor. However, she did wish she could get her own place. Living with Harry and Ron was weird still and certainly not what she would have put into her 10-year plan, back in school. Of course, her mother-in-law had offered to buy a place for her, as a divorce gift as she joked, since she didn't get anything for her wedding. She had laughed with her and then declined. Having the Malfoys buy her a fancy apartment would only bring the gossip back up.

And Ginny had reminded her that Ron and her could move forward, maybe even into a place together, once she was freed from the marriage bind. So technically once Kingsley cast the spells tomorrow she would be free for her happily ever after. Although it didn't quite feel that way. She had talked to the mind healer about that in her last session, unfortunately, all she was offered was the advice that it would take time to find a routine.

First, she had this divorce to get out of the way. Narcissa had invited her for dinner, claiming there were still be things to discuss. Of course, she would have much preferred not to see Malfoy at all, but she couldn't refuse his mother. So reluctantly she had gotten ready, explicitly nothing special just Jeans, a blouse, and a couple of charms to tame her mane. The only good thing about this dinner was that she wouldn't have to deal with her friends counting down the seconds till the divorce. While they meant well, it still didn't sit well with her. Narcissa had been kind to her and would probably continue to be so. In a weird way, this marriage had brought at least one pureblood to the revelation that muggle-borns weren't quite that bad. The other thing that bothered Hermione, was the ignorance of her friends when she explained the spellwork Shaklebolt was to perform might not work. They had not been able to find more information than they had had a few months ago and while they perfected the spells to perfectly work together, she still wasn't sure if they would actually lift the bind.

When Hermione arrived at Malfoy Manor she only found a sour-looking Malfoy waiting for her and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"She came down with a migraine. A terrible one." She could tell by his mocking tone, which perfectly matched his face, that he felt even more set up than she did.

"I can leave."

"Don't! She will have my head if I let you go."

He sounded frustrated, which made it even easier for her to smirk.

"Just another reason to leave, but then again that would make me being responsible for your death, wouldn't it?"

"I suppose." He didn't seem like he wanted to talk about the terms of their bind and instead stalked ahead to the dining room. A room that in her opinion was way too big for the small family, but then again the whole Manor was. By now she had eaten here on multiple occasions but never had anyone occupied the chair across from her. She wondered if he felt the same about her sitting in a chair that hadn't even existed until her first meal here. The elves brought their food, some of her favorites as she noted, and she made an attempt to speak, but his answers remained short and clipped and it just seemed too hard to keep going. She also ran out of sincere questions, after all, she couldn't very well ask him about Azkaban. Miss the dementors yet? Enjoying house arrest? Any big plans for Christmas, oh wait, you can't leave or entertain.

After the very awkward and silent meal, he directed her to his office. She paused at the door. The last time she was in here, he had informed her of her wifely spying duties. Not that it seemed to have made much of a difference. She assumed it would have been much worse if Harry hadn't managed to end it all within a few weeks after their capture. It surely hadn't been Voldemorts plan to be killed this soon.

"Please don't be dramatic." His voice drew her out of her thoughts. She was still standing in the doorway, hesitating as it seemed to appear to him. Of course, his usages of please indicated that he had used his dosage of being reasonable or even nice to her for the night. She stepped in and followed him to the desk.

"Mother wants me to inform you that you are still a welcome guess of hers." He made a theatric pause: "I want to inform you that the same does not apply to me."

She rolled her eyes: "Do I need to sign somewhere that I received this information?"

"Funny." He turned to his desk not looking amused at all. "You do have to sign these."

"Care to elaborate?" She looked at the parchment on his desk and eyed his quill suspiciously.

"You sign away from all rights to our properties, money, elves, and whatever else you would get as a wife or ex-wife or widow."

Of course, the Malfoys wouldn't risk her turning back in a few hears and suing them for well whatever she might find useful. The Manor perhaps? She sighed and reached for one of the parchments to read through the writing on it. As she noticed the length she sank into his chair and began her careful study of everything written. He watched her for a moment, clearly not only annoyed at her choice of seat. His annoyed look soon turned back to sour, as if he hadn't expected her to actually read the paperwork.

"It's a good thing we are getting divorced. You reading this is a waste of time." He sneered. "Use Roks to get me, when you are ready." His voice had turned bored as he left the room. It was a bit odd how satisfied she felt, as he marched off, but she really did. It took all her focus to return to the paperwork in front of her rather than smiling about this effect.

It took her a couple of hours to read through everything that the legal advice had put together for the Malfoys. They had been quite extensive, which she supposed she would have asked for as well if she was them. However, it made the divorce much more divorce like than she had anticipated. She couldn't find anything that would strip her of anything that was hers and so she signed all of them. She opened her mouth to call Roks, but closed it again, before fingering her necklace. There was no way she was going to get an elf when she still had this direct line to Malfoy.

When he returned he seemed even more annoyed but kept quiet when he found her signature everywhere it was needed. He rolled up each parchment and sealed each of them, before sending them to pile up on his shelf. As he watched them align, something else seemed to cross his mind. She watched him roll his eyes before he turned back to her.

"Mother wants me to remind you that she is still willing to supply a suitable place for you. Just send her the listing of whatever you want." He seemed to have so much more to say, but remained silent, which she took as her key to speak.

"Hearing your annoyances almost makes me want to agree." He glared at her and she just shook her head. "I already told her no."

"Good." He gave her another glare. "The necklace is the final item. Mother insists you keep it, but I should inform you that it will no longer bring any of your concerns to my attention. Most of the protection charms will also lose their power."

"I assumed that much."

He nodded again, staring at her. He looked tired and definitely still annoyed. She tried to follow his eyes, but he was looking at her neck so she could only assume. Was it really bothering him so much that she kept the necklace? By now it was more a habit of wearing it. She had been able to feel the protection at the beginning, but now it was just always there. Of course, it might feel different once the spellwork wasn't working anymore. She glanced back to his sour expression.

"If it really puts a dent into your pocket, just hide it somewhere and I'll tell her I don't feel like wearing it anymore."

"Once again, she'll have my head for that."

She smirked but remained silent.

"She also said your room was still yours." He almost hissed the words. He clearly didn't agree on that point but had lost that fight to his mother. "You may go now."

She remembered her dismissal last year. But he didn't go back to his desk, he stood at the window instead. Hermione rolled her eyes once more but then decided to leave. She did ask Roks this time, whether Narcissa was awake, but apparently, she did go to bed early. So the young witch went to "her room" and contemplated her options. She could go back to Grimmauld Place and have her friends around to worry about the divorce. Or in Ron's case to speak badly of her soon to be ex-husband. Or she could stay here and hope for one last breakfast with Narcissa, but then again there was her sour soon to be ex-husband roaming around now.

She finally decided to avoid Malfoy in the Manor was easier than avoiding her friends at home. Narcissa had provided her room with a few silky pajamas and a robe, as well as day clothes that she could change into the next day. All not quite her style, but close enough to register her effort.

It was almost midnight when she found herself climbing back out of the bed. Hermione had tried everything down to counting sheep, but she couldn't sleep. Unfortunately, there weren't any books left in her room, as the elves seemed to sort those back into the library every time she brought them up here. Tying the robe around her she left her room and made her way to the library. She still felt that weird draw to the book Narcissa didn't want her to read all these months ago. She had it in her hands wondering if maybe it would be a better fit, by tomorrow night. As she didn't expect sleep to come anytime soon, she wandered over to the small sitting area where she had first really gotten to know Narcissa.

She heard the door creek and her eyes widened in alarm when she saw a hex flying towards her. Wandless as she was, she ducked but it was too late, the hex catching her partially. She fell to the ground with a groan, noticing a numbness spreading in the body parts hit. The book landed next to her on the floor.

"Merlin, Granger. What are you doing here?"

Within seconds, Malfoy was standing over her, removing the hex, which helped to calm the scared look on her face. He wasn't quite able to hide his own feelings and she was sure for a second she had seen fear in his own eyes. Once the numbness was gone, her attention went to the throbbing of her head. Her hand moved to the back of it and found something sticky.

Now it was his eyes that widened with alarm and he pulled her towards him roughly.

"I'd rather fix this myself if you are going to be like this." She glared at him, forgetting that she didn't even have her wand. When did she get this confident in her safety in this house?

He didn't respond but seemed to make an attempt of being softer. She watched him wave his wand with a silent spell, and then his finger went over the spot. The pain stopped, so she assumed he had been successful.

"I'll take you to your room."

"I can walk."

He rolled his eyes and placed his hands on her to pull her up, before apparating her back to her bedroom without another word. When they arrived they stood incredibly close. Something that came from him pulling her towards him right before leaving the library. She tried hard to not breathe in his scent or look up at him, as she reformed her composure. What was she supposed to do with this situation? Getting hexed and healed by the same person within minutes was simply odd.

"I was going to read that book." Aggressiveness seemed to be the right move to cover how unsure of the situation she was.

"You should sleep, darling." He sounded bored, which bothered her as much as the use of that term. There was nobody but him using it, which made it his new signature and she found that even less enjoyable than the mudblood taunts in school.

"Stop calling me that."

"Tomorrow, darling." Her eyes caught on the clock.

"It's past midnight."

He shrugged and as she looked back at him she found herself staring past his smirk, up into his eyes. Something she had never really done before. Sure she had caught glimpses, but she hadn't actually held his gaze. It wasn't light enough to examine his exact color, but she was more focused on the force that seemed to hold back any sort of emotion. Which brought her back to the bit of emotion she thought she had seen earlier. When she finally looked away, she realized that he hadn't moved away from her, but was studying her as well.

"You would have to leave for me to go to sleep." He rolled his eyes but continued to keep her close. When his hand started to wander up her arm and finally cupped her face, she realized that the other hand still had a tight crib on her hip, from apparating. While she usually didn't know what he might be thinking, she was sure that she could never guess now. There was something on his face that she couldn't place at all.

"There is something I have been wondering about." His thumb brushed over her chin and then traced part of her lips. Her heart began to race, but she was frozen. She wanted to answer but she was caught up in his eyes once again. There were a lot of things she had been wondering about as well when it came to him. Especially at the time when she feared she would have to live with him.

"I was wondering, what it would be like to kiss you." Her breath caught in her throat. His thumb pushed a bit more roughly against her lip. "I suppose Azkaban was a bit lonely." He gave a dead laugh: "And I assumed once I'm out, I'd be a married man and we'd have to deal with being husband and wife." He paused again, his eyes briefly on her lips still. "Giving my parents that heir, half-blood or not, I doubt it would have been an option."

She could feel his other hand pulling her closer than she already was. "And that's when I began to wonder what it would be like to kiss you. Surprisingly it sounded like something I could live with. Apparently, Azkaban did leave some mental damage after all."

Hermione stared at him, finally able to draw her eyes away from his, they landed on his lips. She would never admit it, but she had wondered too. She hoped that her wondering was the reason why she didn't struggle against him like her brain was screaming at her to do. All those times, she was desperately trying to ignore the bind and be passionate with Ron. When he had been upset about something soon after, she had wondered if the bind would make all of this much easier with Malfoy, even if she still couldn't stand him. And the truth was now being here in his arms, it did feel like it was easier. It felt like it wouldn't take much effort at all to just reach a bit and be kissing him.

Before her brain caught up with her, she had her arms around his neck. Pulling him closer her eyes fluttered shut and her lips found his. Her kiss was chaste and she was ready to retreat when she felt his hand drop from her cheek. She didn't anticipate his arms wrapping tightly around her back, pulling her still closer to him. There was a sound of surprise escaping between their lips before he deepened the kiss. A groan followed, as her tongue asked for entrance and he found himself pushing her towards her bed. His hands back to her shoulder to shed her of that robe. Starting to remove her pajama top even before the robe even hit the ground. His lips left her mouth trailing down her neck, only stopping briefly, to go on to her breasts. He could feel her hands tucking on his shirt, rather unsuccessfully, and stopped kissing her to pull it over his head.

It was that pause that Hermione needed for a reality check. As he bent back down to kiss her, he could feel her tense. He let out a frustrated groan, but stopped and looked back up at her face. Instead of his usual sneer, he was looking for a yes or no, but her brain was still struggling against her desire and then there was something else, fear of the unknown. He started to pull back more when he recognized that last emotion. Although he seemed it mistake it for fear of him and his expressions seemed to close off again. No, she didn't want this to end. Her hands grabbed for anything to keep him close.

"I never got past this point." She blurted the words out, realizing at the same time that they probably didn't make any sense to him. She didn't want him to mistake her fear of first-time sex with fear of him. She knew how much that hurt. That stupid look of little girls thinking she might kill them for no reason at all. And besides, she could win a duel against him anytime. His eyes were on her and her face heated up as she desperately wanted to disappear. How did she make him continue without being so embarressed?

He sat up, his legs straddling her, as she was laying on top of the sheets.

"Care to elaborate?" She could feel fury add to her embarrassment, as he recycled her words from earlier.

"Ron always picked some sort of a fight, once we are at this point, so I have never actually…" She stopped, the heat pulsating in her face.

"You're a virgin."

She wanted to cry from embarrassment but managed to nod. Certainly, he would retreat now and not bother with her. She also fully expected him to make some rude comment that would completely ruin the mood anyway. At least she knew how to deal with that and getting dressed again, but then he surprised her.

"Okay, I have two questions and possibly a request." She watched his hand push some strands of her hair out of her face.

"First, is this going to be a problem with Weasley?"

"He broke it off until the bind is lifted." He stared at her. His face grimaced briefly before he shook his head. He remembered her ramble in Azkaban when she had mentioned her boyfriend's jealousy. So it was going to be a problem for Weasley, but Hermione wouldn't technically cheat. Good enough for him.

"Idiot." He leaned down placing another kiss on her neck.

"Second, do you want to keep going?" There was another kiss to her neck before he lifted his head far enough to catch her eyes. "The first time is not going to be the most pleasant or exciting." He paused and looked like he was fighting something. "You should be comfortable." She realized that he thought, she might not be comfortable enough with him to do this.

Was Draco Malfoy going soft on her? She moved her hands towards his hair. Carefully weaving through them, considering what he had said. Her eyes widened when he didn't stop a soft growl.

"I'm pretty positive you are not aware of what you are doing to me." He smirked: "But would you be so kind to share your decision before you proceed?" One of his hands caught hers with a gentle but firm grip, leading it away from his neck, while another deep crimson blush spread on her cheeks.

"Go on." She finally muttered.

She was surprised to see the satisfaction on his face, feeling his lips once more against her neck, wandering back down to her breasts.

"What was the request?" Her face turned red once more when a moan followed her question as he had just hit a sensitive spot.

He laughed at her, when he saw the color, but then refocused on her breast.

"Don't mention Weasley for the rest of the night. He kills the mood."

-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-

She awoke in the morning to him getting dressed with bare necessities. Collecting the rest of his clothes from the floor to take them back to his own bedroom. He noticed her eyes on him when he gave the room a final scan.

"In case this becomes a concern to you later, I did use contraceptive spells."

He laughed as her eyes widened. She had forgotten about that particular part. That would have been a treat, divorced but pregnant.

"Getting slopy, are you darling?"

His smirk grew when she threw a pillow at him.

"And childish."

She rolled her eyes.

"Good thing we are getting divorced today."

When she didn't agree, he looked back at her with a hint of panic.

"Granger, we are getting divorced today, right?"

He could feel the nervousness rise in him, as she didn't respond. If his stupid lust last night had caused her to madly fall in love with him, he would lose it. There was no way his mother would allow a divorce, her new favorite witch didn't want. She seemed to contemplate his question to the greatest detail. After the longest minute of his life, she smirked at him.

"Of course."

He briefly considered hexing her but shook it off.

"I'll eat breakfast in my office, so you can keep mother company, without any awkwardness. I'll see you at the fireplace later." With that he disapparated.